Nosferatu To Vampire
by Martini562
Summary: A new student enters the world of Yokai Academy. Driven by events in the past, this student only has one goal. But an unseen force may end up putting all his work in jeopardy. Kurumu-X-OC  Rewrite
1. Chapter 1: The Arrival

**Hello folks, I'm back. Yeah I haven't been very active lately (exams, work and all) AND I've torn down all the existing chapters of _Nosferatu to Vampire._ I know that deserves some scolding, but I have returned, and I'll try to update more often this time around. So please don't kill me?**

**Disclaimer: The above may contain empty promises.**

**So yeah, I am rewriting the entirety of _Nosferatu to Vampire._ And whilst most of the events will remain the same, some parts will be replaced.**

1476 AD

The once beautiful landscape of Wallachia had been turned into a valley of death and despair. Bodies lay strewn across the battlefield, one of which the scale of destruction had never been witnessed before in the world of man. Bodies of men lay next to those of witches, those of dwarves next to those of giants, those of vampires next to Nosferatu.

In the middle of this scene of destruction stood 4 figures and a deformed monster, tied to the Earth by bonds unseen, unheard and unknown to the human eye, ear and mind.

"I am sorry Vladimir, even though you are my brother, I cannot have you destroy this world in a quest for revenge." a woman with pink hair said.

The monster slowly reshaped itself into a man with long black hair. The man was looking at the ground, blood was running from his mouth and nose.

"I never expected you of all people, my own sister, a Tepes, to betray me." he said as he coughed out more of his blood.

"We did what we needed to do." a tall man with pointed ears said.

"So did I!" Vladimir shouted as he lashed out the man, only to be stopped by the invisible chains.

"It's useless Alucard, you cannot escape this technique" another man told him.

"How dare you mock my name Shuzen! You incompent son of a whore!" Vladimir shouted, revealing his rows of sharp teeth. "My name is Dracula!". Part of his body deformed again and from his shoulder appeared a hound that charged at the one called Shuzen, only to be cut off by the man with pointed ears. Vladimir gasped for air, as another part of his body was torn off.

"How long are we going to keep doing this? It's getting mighty boring." the man with the ears said.

"I agree with Touhou Fuhai, this is becoming rather annoying." said a man covered in robes like a priest.

"I understand." said the woman. "Lock him up dear." she said to Shuzen.

"We're not going to kill him?" Shuzen asked her.

"We won't be able to." she replied. Shuzen let out a laugh.

"She's right, no matter how many times you strike me down, I will keep coming back until all that is left of you is a bunch of rotting corpses." Vladimir said with a smile.

"So be it." replied Shuzen as he and the other men started chanting a spell that would lock away this evil vampire forever. Slowly Alucard was being sucked into the ground beneath him, but instead of fearing his demise, he started laughing.

"What's so funny brother? It's not like you'll ever escape this place" the woman said.

"Mark my words, the blood of the Nosferatu will come for the both of you." Vladimir said as his face was finally pulled underground and the hole above him was sealed and a marker appeared on the ground.

In the decades following the battle, the valley of death became a valley of construction as a huge castle, bearing the mark of the vampire was erected above the burial spot of the Nosferatu. The marker was placed under heavy guard from vampires, man and other monsters. This man could never be released again.

XXXXXXXXXX

The spring break was over and Kurumu found herself in her old dormitory room again. Her vacation hadn't been as relaxing as she had hoped. Nights and days had she spent yearning for Tsukune, only to have to be contempt with the possibility of seeing him again once school started again. The problems didn't end there, once her mother heard of Kurumu's failure to win the heart of her beloved Tsukune she immediately scheduled every day of the vacation for Kurumu to practise her seduction skills.

Her mother also found it important for a girl like Kurumu to be able to dance properly so she forced Kurumu to attend Foxtrot and Tango lessons. In the relatively short period she attended the lessons she had managed to reach quite a high level. The classes also proved to be the perfect testing grounds for her newly developed seduction skills. This year she would most make Tsukune hers, and no one, not Moka or Mizore or flat chested Yukari would be getting in her way.

After leisurely unpacking her bags and taking a shower, Kurumu found herself running towards the school. Despite the fact that on the first day classes didn't start until quarter past twelve in the afternoon, as to give students some time to settle in properly, Kurumu still managed to be late. As fate would have it, her home room teacher was Miss Nekonome, the uncertain cat teacher that could impossibly punish someone, except for scratching someone in the face should that person dare comment on her appearance.A quick lecture was all Kurumu had to endure before she was allowed to sit down on her familiar seat in the back of the class.

Kurumu briefly looked around the classroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tsukune, but she only saw Mizore in the back. Her morale sank to the point of depression. How could she possibly manage a whole year without Tsukune? She sat down without the slightest noise and buried her head in her arms, trying to conceal her depressed face. As soon as her forehead touched the sleeve of her shirt did she hear the door slide open. Quickly she shot upright again, full of hope. This time her hope was justified. Tsukune and Moka were standing in the doorway. Tsukune looked incredibly pale and seemed to be wobbling on his legs. The cause of this was clear. Kurumu stood up and pointed her finger at Moka. She scolded her as she had done so often during the last year.

The commotion that came from the accusations led to little good and less to anything useful. It wasn't until Kurumu got flash-frozen by Mizore that the discussion came to an abrupt end. Kurumu was defrosted again and sat down, shaking. She was glad though, Moka wouldn't dare drink Tsukune's blood again for the rest of the day.

As soon as the argument had ended did Miss Nekonome start making announcements. Most of the announcements were absolutely useless and were the very reason why the first lesson of the year was so boring. Nothing but announcements for an hour. Luckily, the rest of day would be spent on club activities, which meant that she could finally spend some prime time with Tsukune again, should she be able to separate him from the rest of the harem that was also part of the newspaper club.

Her fantasies came to an abrupt end as the door opened and a new student entered the classroom. The student was exceptionally tall and had reasonably long hair for a guy.

"Excuse me. I am Martin Ardacul, it's a pleasure to meet you." he said in poor Japanese.

"Great, a foreigner." one of the boys said, earning a annoyed glance from Martin.

Miss Nekonome pointed him towards the only remaining seat in the classroom, the one right behind Kurumu. Without saying anything else, Martin marched towards his seat.

No one spoke, and no one noticed Moka's suspicious look.


	2. Chapter 2: Initiation Fight

The hours of announcements had ended, and people made their way to the respective classrooms for club activities, all except Martin. As a new student he was supposed to attend the welcoming ceremony, but he felt nothing for another boring activity that would above all else be a complete waste of time.

From the moment he stepped outside he could feel the people staring at him. Their faces told him exactly how they thought about him, and for once it seemed the prejudices about Japanese people were true as these students all seemed to be terribly xenophobic.

Distracted by these glances he received from people Martin accidentally bumped into someone. A boy called 'Gehzong', a troublemaker and self-proclaimed ladies' man

"I'm sorry." Martin said, apologizing for his clumsiness.

"How about you watch where you walk, stupid foreigner." the boy said, trying to look threatening, despite being around a foot smaller than Martin.

"Whatever xenophobe." Martin said as brushed past the boy, further conversation was unnecessary.

Martin preferred that the boy would keep it at that, being called a xenophobe proved to be too much for the boy's huge ego to handle however. It wasn't until someone told him to watch out that he even realised that the boy tried to attack him from behind.

At the moment Martin noticed the punch heading his way, it was too late to do anything any more. The fist connected to his jaw and a blunt pain shot through Martin's jaw, staggering back into the wall.

"If you have a problem with me..." Martin said as he spat out some of his blood. "...Tell me to my face next time. Because this shit makes me mad.".

"Like I care!" the boy shouted as he continued to stroke up his sleeves.

"You really should." Martin said, just before he jumped at Gehzong's throat.

Gehzong, although surprised by the suddenness of the attack, jumped aside, allowing Martin's hand to merely graze the fabric of his uniform. For a moment their eyes met, Martin's murderous gaze peered deep into the haughty eyes of Gehzong. Taking pride in evading the attack, Gehzong lowered his guard. A mistake.

Seeing the opening, Martin jumped and spun around, smashing his knee into Gehzong's surprised face. Gehzong's defence was shattered, paving the way for a series of follow up punches.

Gehzong suffered an utter defeat, within seconds he had been forced to the ground and his normally good looking face had now been turned into a bloody mess.

Martin lifted Gehzong up by the collar, preparing for the final set of blows to the chest and face, when he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of an extremely rapid set of hits, not from Gehzong, but from a large man that had seemed to have appeared from thin air with his two comrades.

It didn't take the man long to get Martin to bleed, as within second blood started oozing from his mouth and nose as well as from a rib that had fractured and torn through his skin.

With a final kick to the gut, Martin was propelled against the wall behind him, where he left a small impact crater covered with blood, his own.

Slowly he dropped to the ground and looked up at his attacker, a silver-eyed monstrosity in a karate suit.

"That is your payment in blood for the attack upon my club member." the man said. "Remember who you will be dealing with the next time you attack someone of the Karate Club. As I, Yamamura Katashi, will once again be your executioner.".

Katashi turned around to pick up the unconscious Gehzong and left.

It wasn't until then that Martin realised the crowd that had formed to witness the fight. Again he coughed and bent over until his arms managed to support him. A silver cross fell from his uniform and dangled from his neck. His seal was no longer secret.

XXXXXXXXXX

Among the crowd was Kurumu, who had witnessed every moment of both fights from the moment Martin had lunged at Gehzong. At first she was impressed, but his quick defeat at the hands of Katashi put an end to her praising.

When push came to shove, Martin was just another piece of trash.

As Martin rose again from the ground she caught a glimpse, however short, of the cross that dangled from his neck. Immediately she made a connection with Moka's rosario. Why did this boy have a seal?

As soon as Martin had left the scene did she remember what she was doing before getting caught up in the rather exciting show. She was late for the club meeting.

Quickly she rushed to the clubroom where, as soon as she passed the door, she was greeted by Yukari with a magical saucepan dropping down upon her hand..

"Ow! Yukari!" Kurumu shouted as she covered the place where the pan had struck her skull.

"That's for being late desu." the little witch said smugly and she waved her wand.

"Well I guess you have a point..." Kurumu said as she was suddenly interrupted by a second saucepan dropping on her head. "Ouch! What was that for?" Kurumu shouted, slightly enraged by the witch's unusual pestering.

"That was for being unfaithful desu." Yukari replied.

For a moment the room remained completely silent, until the dropping of a lollipop marked the start of a heated, but very much useless, discussion.

"Unfaithful? Me? What are you talking about?" Kurumu asked, as she had not even the slightest clue as to what the witch was referring to.

"I caught her in the hallway admiring how a European guy beat up Gehzong desu." Yukari said, as she accusingly pointed her finger at Kurumu.

"I'd hardly call beating up Gehzong admirable." said Ginei as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Yeah, that's also hardly what I call unfaithful." added Tsukune as he took up a newspaper and started reading it.

"And here I was thinking you were a walking dictionary." Kurumu said teasingly.

Yukari's face shot red and she waved her wand again. She was however turned into a ice cube before she could finish her spell.

"No need for any more flying kitchen utensils." Mizore said dryly as she continued to stare Tsukune from the ceiling, earning some surprised glances from the gang in the process.

"And was it interesting?" Ginei continued. "The fight I mean. It might just make for a most amusing article, 'Foreign student unleashes a wave of violence'." he said with a self-assured grin.

"First bit was." Kurumu answered. "The entertainment value plummeted however as soon as Katashi started interfering.".

For a moment Ginei remained frozen in place, right in the middle of him sipping his coffee. Slowly his eye turned to look at Kurumu.

"You mean Yamamura Katashi from the Karate Club?" he asked.

"That's the one." Kurumu said as she sat down on her usual spot. "He totally beat up Martin.".

"Martin?" Yukari asked, hoping for some fake reason why she knew his name to use as munition in her eternal struggle against her big breasted love rival.

"Yeah, he's in our class." Kurumu continued, not paying any attention to the little witch's hopeful expression.

Quickly she looked at Moka's rosario.

"Do you think they have grown?" Moka asked, in her usual, rather insecure, way.

"Huh?" Kurumu said. It took her several moments to realise that Moka was talking about her breasts, that were behind her rosario. "Perhaps, but of course they are nothing compared to my beauties." she said as she stood up. As usual she didn't leave an opportunity unemployed if she could use it to get Tsukune to pick her.

XXXXXXXXXX

At the end of the day, the team had made a plan for the first monthly school newspaper. Everyone had received a subject to write on. Kurumu, as she was the only one that had actually witnessed the fight, had been given the task by Ginei to write an article about the 'Violent Foreigner', something that would be sure to get some laughs from the students.

The task didn't bother her, she was glad for receiving this assignment actually. Perhaps this would allow her to find out why a boy like him possessed something that looked like a seal.

XXXXXXXXXX

The walk back to the dormitories had been long, painful and otherwise extremely unpleasant. Martin was glad though that people didn't seem to pay that much attention to him. Either they thought he was going to the hospital, that strangely enough was in the completely opposite direction, or that he was simply not worth their attention. Either way, they left him in peace, and he preferred it that way.

The moment he had reached his room and locked his door he could finally take a look at his wounds. He discarded his jacket and sneaked his hand under his shirt. He flinched as his fingers touched the rather painful wound where a bloodied bone stuck out through the skin.

"Am I this weak?" he whispered as he looked at the blood on his fingers. Quickly his gaze fell upon his cross. "All because of this stupid cross, and that damned witchcraft." he snarled. He tried to yank it off, but as always, a burning sensation settled in and soon he could smell his own burning flesh, at which point he chose to give up on his attempt to part with his hated seal.

Snarling at the fresh wound he had just inflicted upon himself, he decided it was now time to heal, rather than to deal any more injuries.

He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. Broken bones snapped back into place, blood retreated into the wounds and wounds closed themselves as if someone invisibly stitched them back together. It was excruciating, even more so than actually being on the receiving end of those blows that had caused the wounds in the first place.

As the pain subsided Martin felt slightly dizzy, a sign for him to replenish his energy. However instead of diving into the cupboard and retrieving a 'normal' meal like 'Instant Ramen', he opened the refrigerator, revealing a massive supply of blood packs for his consumption.

He grabbed one, pushed a straw down through the package opening and sat down at his desk, where he slowly sucked out the delicious metallic essence of life from the plastic container. He smiled and whilst warm blood, freshly taken from a victim, always tasted better, this substitute was more than enough to bring Martin a feeling of slight ecstasy.

After squeezing out the last drops, he discarded the container and took off his shirt, which was still covered in blood, that had now totally been dried into the fabric, making it near impossible for him to consume it.

He placed the shirt in his laundry basket and proceeded back to the refrigerator, eager gulp down some more of the delectable fluid, when someone knocked on his door.

Without even considering to grab a shirt he walked over to the door with his fist clenched and ready to attack should that Katashi guy be waiting for him on the other side. He opened the door and saw not Katashi, but the beautiful blue haired girl that sat in front of him during today's class.

XXXXXXXXXX

Unlike her usual self, that was always full of confidence, Kurumu needed a few moments to muster the courage to knock on his door. Something about this new guy didn't feel quite right and it made her feel slightly unsure.

She knocked and sighed. There was no turning back now.

The door opened and there stood Martin, wearing only his trousers. Kurumu stood frozen in place, not so much from seeing his bare torso, but the lack of injuries.

"Can I help you?" Martin asked, prompting Kurumu to snap back to reality.

"Yes, since you are one of the few transfer students we have from outside Japan, some of newspaper club would like to write an article about you. Would you like to participate in an interview?" she asked quickly.

An eerie silence followed.

"Jeez, you guys really must not get a lot of foreigners here." Martin murmured in English as he scratched the back of his head. "Sure thing." he continued in Japanese as he stepped aside, opening the door completely in an inviting gesture. "Please, come in.".


	3. Chapter 3: The Ball

Ever since they had sat down with a warm cup of tea, time had flown by. Despite his initial doubts, the interview went quite smoothly, seeing how most of Kurumu's questions had been rather trivial and easy to answer. Questions such as his favourite colour and drink.

"One thing I don't understand though is why you didn't just take off your seal once you were up against Katashi?" Kurumu had asked. Martin's morale sank until it hit rock bottom.

"What seal are you talking about?" he countered, trying to mask out his worry and any sign of knowledge of the massive seal that was dangling from his neck.

"The one around your neck." she said, her voice full of confidence. "Or are you suggesting that's not a seal?".

"It's not, it's actually a lucky charm I was given by my late grandmother. I wear it to remember her." he replied, cleverly evading any follow up questions Kurumu might have wanted to ask by evoking a sympathetic response from her.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." was all she managed to utter as she looked at the ground, thinking that she might have touched upon a sensitive subject.

"May I ask you why you thought this was a seal?" Martin asked, her easy recognition of his seal as such meant she probably had experience in that area.

"Oh it's nothing special, a friend of mine has a rosary seal. Your cross reminded me of the one she had.".

"A rosary seal?" Martin thought to himself, his interest spiked by the mention of the object. "I need to find out who this person with the rosary seal is.".

"I guess that wraps it all up then." Kurumu said as she rose from her chair, a smile had returned to her face. "It was nice talking to you Martin.".

"It was nice talking to you too." Martin said as he too rose from his chair to lead her to the door. "You never told me your name." he said with a smile.

"Oops, I can't believe I forgot that." she said as her face turned red. "My name is Kurono Kurumu." she said as she held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Kurumu-san." Martin said as he took her hand and kissed it, causing her face to turn even redder. He was slightly old-fashioned at heart.

"Now, let me get the door for you." he continued as he let go of her hand and walked to the door.

"Thanks." she said softly, why was he being so courteous to her?

"Kurumu-san?" he asked as soon as she left his room.

"Yes?" she said as she turned to meet his sincere gaze.

"About that ball tomorrow. Would you like to go there with me?" he asked in a rather hasty fashion.

For a moment Kurumu stood frozen. She could go with him and be assured of a date, or she could try to cling on to Tsukune and probably end up alone again. She bit her lip before she answered, the decision was tougher on her than she expected.

"I'm sorry, I was planning on going with someone else." she answered with an apologetic look.

"That's all right." Martin said, although he felt it was definitely not all right. "Well then. I guess I should return to unpacking my luggage then.".

"Good idea." Kurumu said softly before she walked off towards the stairs.

"Will I see you again?" Martin asked as she neared the first step.

"Of course you will, we're in the same class you know?" she joked.

"That was not what I meant." Martin said as he allowed himself to laugh. He watched her from his doorway until finally the last strand of blue hair disappeared into the stairwell.

He closed the door behind him, making sure was locked before he kicked his suitcase to the other side of the room. He was extremely disappointed, not so much in her as he was in himself. She had been at the school for a year already, it was natural that she already had someone.

But no matter much he tried to rationalise what had just happened, he felt like someone had hit him in the chest with a gigantic sledgehammer. One that had ignored his ribcage and hit his heart directly.

XXXXXXXXXX

There were no lessons scheduled the next day save for one. Home room class once again was the only thing on the list, except it lasted the entire day. The tables and chairs had been placed in the hallways. With the evening event in mind, Martin knew exactly what was going to happen.

"So we're going to practise dancing?" He asked out loud as Miss Nekonome tried to make the class calm down. She nodded.

"Exactly. Today I will teach you the basics of dancing." Miss Nekonome said in her usual, cheerful, manner. "Now does anyone here know how to dance?" she asked.

Slowly Martin rose his hand, as did three other students. As he looked around, he saw Kurumu, Tsukune and Moka raise their hands as well.

"Come on now, don't be shy." Miss Nekonome said, trying to encourage the students to raise their hands as well. Unfortunately for her, no one else did.

"Very well then." she sighed in disappointment. "What dances do you know? Kurumu, you first." she said as she turned around and stopped the moment Kurumu entered in her field of view.

"I know the foxtrot and tango quite well if I do say so myself." she replied, with an air of haughtiness surrounding her. Martin raised an eyebrow at this strange version of Kurumu. Out in public she seemed to be a more confident in herself.

"Very well. Moka?" Miss Nekonome asked.

"I know how to dance the waltz." she replied softly.

Tsukune needed not to be asked by the teacher and as soon as Moka had finished speaking he chipped in his skills.

"I know a bit of the Waltz." he said in a rather eagerly fashion. No doubt this was due to practising with Moka after school whenever the other girls weren't around.

Finally it was Martin's turn.

"I dance the tango, I am also versed in a bit of the waltz." he said.

"Great!" Miss Nekonome exclaimed with great enthusiasm. "Why don't you and Kurumu show us the tango and then we'll watch Moka and Tsukune perform the Waltz." she suggested. Quickly the thought of dancing with Kurumu filled his head, and he started to feel elated.

He walked to the centre of the circle and turned to Kurumu.

"My I have this dance?" he asked with a gracious bow, only affirming his old-fashionedness. Kurumu however said nothing.

"My, my, what a difference in character." Martin thought to himself as he rose again. Some boys had started laughing, but he ignored them. They were petty, insignificant and a waste of energy. In other words, they were best to be left alone, lest more commotion was caused.

Miss Nekonome started the music and all of his thoughts were pushed aside, all he needed and wanted to think of right now was dancing. And so they danced, and after a short intro they began to move passionately and strong as one entity. Martin was impressed by her skill, every movement she made was perfectly placed, there was no mistake to be found. He knew he was being watched and for a moment let his gaze sweep across the classroom. From the faces of the students could be read that they were amazed. Girls giggled and boys whispered.

Before he knew it, the dance came to an end and they were greeted by a wave of applause.

Quickly, Kurumu walked back into the group of students, leaving Martin with no opportunity to talk to her. All he could do was look after her as she disappeared behind the other students.

His watchful gaze had not remained unnoticed however and before he had the chance to enter the crowd again, a small girl shouted out from the doorway.

"He loves the milk cow desu!" Yukari shouted.

The whole of the class shifted their attention to the little witch in the doorway, someone that shouldn't be here at all. Kurumu furiously stared at her with whilst the rest of the people mere lifted an eyebrow at the annoyance. Martin thought nothing of it and turned his attention to the, once again populated. circle in front of them.

Music played and Moka and Tsukune started dancing. Sure enough, Tsukune had been right when he said he knew a bit of the Waltz as on several occasions he nearly stepped upon Moka's feet. Moka was different however, she danced with signs of perfection, like Kurumu had shown during their dance of Tango. Clearly she was better at the dance than she had let on earlier.

As the two danced, the door opened and a tall student with black hair, Ginei, walked into the classroom.

The waltz eventually came to an end and the class once again applauded their efforts and skill. Moka blushed in her usual innocent fashion and Tsukune involuntarily straightened out, a truly hilarious sight.

As the two walked back towards the body of students, Miss Nekonome walked into the centre of the circle and started explaining that she would teach everyone a elegant, yet simple enough dance that would suffice for the night.

Calm music started sounding throughout the classroom and Miss Nekonome motioned Ginei to come forward.

"Now, to find your partner." she said as she looked around the room before pointing at Kurumu.

"Kurumu, why don't you and Ginei dance together?" she said. Kurumu immediately began to object.

"What? Dancing with Ginei? No way!" she said in anger, her voice raised to a level at which it could be considered that she was shouting rather than talking. Before she could resist however, some of the boys had pushed her into the circle.

"This will be amusing." a boy standing next to Martin mused.

For a moment Martin considered whether he might have been the person she had been talking about the other day when she turned down his offer to go to the dance together. However, after going over her reaction when Miss Nekonome told her to dance with him, that idea became extremely improbable.

Miss Nekonome carefully instructed the class on how they should move each other and move. She placed Kurumu's arm's on Ginei's shoulders and placed his hands on her hips. Suddenly he started grinning in a rather perverse way.

Much to the class' amazement, there was no clear reaction from Kurumu. She did not hit him, kick him or scold him. Not even the slightest hint of disapproval came from her. Some students looked at Martin. Was he the one responsible for her sudden change in behaviour?

XXXXXXXXXX

At around three in the afternoon class came to an end, leaving everybody with enough time to get dressed in time for the ball. "Be sure to wear appropriate clothing" is what Nekonome Sensei had said as the students forced their way out of the classroom via every possible exit. This had left Martin in a mild state of distress. While his wardrobe at home did have several costumes that could be classified as 'appropriate', he hadn't bothered bringing one to school. A foolish idea in hindsight, as one could expect at least one huge party per school year.

He decided approach someone from his class. By pure chance, the first person he ran into on his way to the dorms was Tsukune, who unfortunately had no idea where to buy a suit on such a short notice. Luckily for him, Kurumu did and offered to take him to a shop she knew that sold exactly the thing he needed. So that afternoon, just past four, they arrived at the Monster Mall.

Whilst he was admiring the scale of the mall, Kurumu dragged his absent-minded body into the shop she had been talking about. True enough, the suits here were perfect for the ball, but they were also rather expensive.

Besides the suits, the shop also sold dresses. Quickly Kurumu had gathered a few she liked and she disappeared into the fitting room. At first it seemed as if Kurumu didn't quite grasp the notion of 'appropriate clothing' as she constantly picked dresses that showed just a little too much. At one point did she choose a dress that showed off a bit of both of her nipples, a dress that received the most disapproving 'no' ever spoken.

Finally she appeared from the fitting room with something that didn't show off her entire body as well as made her look more beautiful than an angel. Martin's heart raced, she looked absolutely beautiful in that dress, something he wasn't afraid to mention.

It was now Martin's turn. He instinctively went for the rather old-fashioned costumes, something that met grunting disapproval from Kurumu. After looking upon and disapproving three different, but all old-fashioned, suits, Kurumu grabbed a more present-day smoking and told him to try it on.

Sure enough, it fit him like a second skin, he didn't look bad in it either, for the shiny black silk gave off an aura of wealth and prestige, something that perfectly countered his sometimes murderous expressions that he had made during the day.

When they were both satisfied with their clothing for the evening they proceeded towards the counter together where Martin, much to Kurumu's surprise, paid for both items, both of which were rather pricey.

"You didn't have to do that." she said as they left the shop.

"It was the least I could do to repay you for your help." Martin said with a smile.

"But, don't you think this was a bit too much?" she asked, wondering why he spent money as if he couldn't care less about his bank balance.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like my family lives in the slums or anything." he joked.

"I'll pay you back." she said decisively as they finally left the Monster Mall complex.

"Don't. This is a gift." Martin said as he grabbed her by the arm, his voice was now more sincere. "It is considered offensive to return or compensate for a gift. Don't you think so too?".

Realising she was fighting for a lost cause, she gave in to his demands.

Martin check his watch, 7 O'clock. They had to get back and dress in less than an hour if they wanted to be in time for the opening.

XXXXXXXXXX

Martin was quite quick in taking a bath and changing into his suit. With his hair combed backwards and a bow tie, he suddenly looked a lot older, something his height didn't help with masking either.

Confident that he was at his best, he left his dorm and proceeded towards the school. On his way there he encountered Kurumu, walking all by herself.

"I guess this means you couldn't get the person you wanted to go with you?" Martin said as he started walking behind her.

Kurumu was startled by his sudden appearance, almost jumping ten feet into the air at the sound of his voice.

"You startled me." she said, not sounding particularly happy.

"I realise that, and I'm sorry." he said with a slight laugh. It wasn't until he saw the rather depressed look on her face that he dropped his jokes. "Is something the matter? You seem... depressed." he asked, his voice now filled with worry.

"I couldn't get the one I wanted to join me to the ball." she said faintly. Although she was not one to show any signs of hatred against Moka, Tsukune's preference of her made Kurumu want to cry at times. This was one of those moments and she desperately fought to keep her emotions under control, her efforts were in vain however as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Martin stepped in front of her and forced her to stop, grabbing the handkerchief from his chest pocket and dabbed away her tears.

"Hey, don't cry." he said in a calm, soothing voice.

"Thank you." she whispered.

"You're welcome." he said with a smile, a smile that reminded her of Tsukune's smile. Suddenly a plan began to unravel inside her head. She could use Martin to make Tsukune jealous, and he would dump Moka and the other girls in an instant.

Martin waved his hand in front of the spaced out Kurumu, causing her to snap back to reality.

"Are you okay in there?" he asked.

She nodded and held out her hand.

"Is your offer still valid?" she asked with an angelic smile.

Time stood still for Martin, his heart rate intensified. Did she just say yes to the proposal he had made the other day?

Held out his elbow and smiled.

"Of course it is." he said. Kurumu slid her arm into his and together they walked towards the school.

XXXXXXXXXX

As fate would have it, they were late to the party. But they were not alone. Among the crowd of late students Kurumu had spotted Tsukune and the rest of the girls walking towards the school. All of sudden she tightened her arm around Martin's one even more, as if she was making the statement: "Hah, I've got an awesome data all for myself, beat that.".

It didn't take long before Martin had noticed Tsukune as well. He nodded politely and although it seemed as if Tsukune had wanted to do the same, he could only produce a nervous smile as he was being pushed along by three girls.

"That dude's got a serious harem." Martin said, in a failed attempt to joke.

"Yes, indeed he has." Kurumu said, trying to mask out that she was actually a part of that harem.

As they entered the hallway they were handed a leaflet of a dancing competition taking place that evening. Kurumu tried her best not to grin. So far everything had been going to plan and this leaflet only shifted everything in her favour. With this, she could show off even more. Tsukune would have no choice but to accept her as his soul mate.

Martin offered to take care of her coat, which provided her with the precious time needed for her to slip away and enter the two of them into the competition.

When she returned, she found Martin waiting in the doorway of the main dancing hall.

"Where did you wander off to all of a sudden?" Martin asked, slightly annoyed by Kurumu's temporary absence.

"I'll tell you in a minute, but first..." she said as she held onto him and eyed Tsukune, making sure he was watching before she whispered into his ear. "Let's dance.".

As they danced, Martin felt the stares of many male students. He had just succeeded where so many had failed, dancing with Kurumu.

"Okay, remember when I sneaked out when you were hanging up our coats?" she asked. Martin nodded, eager to get an explanation.

"I recall not getting an answer when I asked you ten minutes ago." he said with a smiling and questioning expression.

"Well, let's just say I might have signed us up for the dancing competition." she said with a grin running from ear to ear.

"You did what?" Martin asked, his face revealing intense shock. "Why?".

"Hmm, no particular reason really." She said with a playful smile. Slowly her gaze drifted off to Tsukune, and Martin slowly became aware of what was really going on.

"Well this sucks." he thought.

**A/N: Yes, three girls, Ruby's not in the harem this time.**

**That makes three down, seven to go, and then it's creativity at maximum level again.**


	4. Chapter 4: A Glimpse of the Beast

Martin carried a slight feeling of doubt with him during the rest of that evening. The suspicion that Kurumu wanted Tsukune more than she wanted him did no good to his mood, even to the most socially inexperienced, it was clear that he was not really enjoying himself.

"Kurumu?" he asked as they danced on the calmer music that broke up the rave of heavy beat house and dance music every now and then.

"Yes?" she asked, not bothering to look up from his shoulder as she carefully observed Moka and Tsukune dancing together mere feet away.

"What is the reason I'm here with you?" he asked, his voice filled with sincerity and pain.

"Because you asked me, remember?" Kurumu answered with a laugh, one that wasn't particularly audible but still rubbed up Martin the wrong way.

"You know that's not what I meant." Martin said as he stepped back to allow himself a clear look at her eyes. "Why do you need me?" he asked, his expression so serious it would scare any mortal.

"I needed someone..." she said softly, averting her eyes from his questioning gaze. "I didn't want to feel alone. And you..." she continued, her voice quivering. "You were a godsend. You cared." she said, finally allowing her eyes to reconnect with those of Martin. A tear once again dropped down her cheek.

The tears that flowed from her eyes played havoc with Martin's sense of logic. In an instant, he had forgiven her for all she had done wrong and all she would do wrong in the future. Quickly he pressed her against his chest and slowly resumed dancing.

"It's okay, you don't need to cry." he said, in an effort to comfort her.

"Thank you." she said, her voice still full of emotion. Anybody that looked at her face would have seen a evil, slightly disturbing smile appear as she continued to dance with him.

XXXXXXXXXX

As the evening progressed, Kurumu proceeded to stage two of her plan. By introducing Martin into the group, she hoped to be able to spark a heftier response from Tsukune at the end of the day.

Neither Mizore or Yukari seemed to be particularly interested in him and Moka simply greeted him in her kind and innocent manner. Tsukune however didn't act quite as Kurumu had hoped. Instead of any signs of jealously, Tsukune seemed to be accepting him into their tight-knit group.

"Hey Martin, nice to properly meet you." he said as he held out his hand, not a typical Japanese gesture. "I'm Aono Tsukune.".

"Nice to meet you too." Martin said as he took Tsukune's hand and shook it.

"How do you enjoy this school?" Tsukune asked, trying to kickstart a meaningful conversation that could perhaps lead to a proper friendship.

"I've only been here for two days, in which I've been beaten to a pulp and found myself hurrying to a mall to buy a suit. So common sense dictates me hating this school." he said with a frown, sarcasm abundant in his speech. 'But, I guess this school might have some good stuff to offer as well." he finished with a smile.

"Oh trust me, this school offers enough to keep you entertained." Tsukune retorted with a grin, as he recalled last year's rather spectacular events. If this year was to be anything like last year, there'd be no shortage of peculiarities.

As the two boys conversed, Kurumu looked like she was ready to explode. This was not what she wanted to happen. In fact, this was quite the opposite of what she had been trying to achieve. Quickly she pulled Martin away from the group.

"Let's dance." she said as she clung onto his arm rather intensely.

"Uh sure." Martin said as he was being pulled away from his conversation. Quickly he turned his head around to Tsukune. "We'll continue our conversation some other time." Martin shouted as the distance between them grew larger and the music demanded elevated levels of audibility.

As soon as Kurumu was confident she was far enough away from Tsukune she came to an abrupt halt and turned towards Martin, putting her arms to rest on his shoulders.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Martin said as she forced him to follow along with her moves. In her haste to get away from the group, she hadn't paid any attention to the fact that she was frowning.

"Huh?" she asked rather bluntly, her frown disappeared immediately, cancelled out by the snap back to reality and replaced by a single raised eyebrow of confusion.

"I asked whether you were okay." Martin replied, letting his head inch closer to hers and looking into her eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine." she said, turning her eyes away from his investigating gaze. A gaze that she felt would look right into her mind and discover what was in fact troubling her. As she turned her head, she saw Ruby climb the stage with a microphone in hand.

"Look, they're going to start the dancing competition." she told Martin as she lifted her hand from his shoulder and pointed it in the direction the stage.

Ruby made a 'kill it' motion and instantly the music died down, and so did all the other noise in the hall.

"Welcome everybody!" Ruby shouted enthusiastically, hoping for an equally enthusiastic response from the crowd. The crowd however did not feel particularly enticed by her unnatural enthusiasm and so the hall remained quiet. There was not even a cricket that attempted to mark the slightly humiliating moment with its chirping.

"Eh, right." Ruby said, not in embarrassment, more so in disappointment of the lack of participation by the crowd. "For our first dance tonight, we have Kurono Kurumu and Martin Ardacul! Give them an applause!" she announced as she started clapping. This time, the crowd, stimulated by a few avid clappers in their midst, joined in.

"Oh dear..." Martin said as he brought up a hand to cover his eyes. "I can't believe we have to go first.".

"It'll be fun" Kurumu insisted as she pulled him along to the stage.

"You never did tell me what dance we'd be performing." Martin said as he led Kurumu up the stairs of the stage.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said with a smile as their hands parted and the music came back on. A familiar track, one that Martin recalled as a piece to which people danced the Tango.

Sure enough, Kurumu turned around and inched closer with passionate moves he recognized to be part of the tango. Suddenly he felt confident of his success. If it was tango they would be dancing, victory would be assured.

Timed perfectly with the music, Kurumu came to a halt right in front of Martin, their faces mere inches apart.

A heartbeat of silence passed, then another and another. Synchronised almost perfectly with the return of the music, their hands, arms and bodies locked together and moved in fluid motion. At no point were they absolutely still, always moving as passionate as the tunes emanating from the audio installations of the DJ.

Feeling the connection and perfection of their movements, Martin allowed himself to feel slightly elated. With her at his side, what could possibly go wrong?

XXXXXXXXXX

As the dance progressed, Kurumu too felt the early rush of potential success. At the sight of Martin's smile, she too allowed herself to bare a faint smile. Unfortunately, the thought of imminent victory triggered a cascade of thoughts. Thoughts of what it would be like with Tsukune and how he would finally reject Moka after they finished dancing.

All of her mind seemed to become dedicated to the emulation of her fantasies and slowly she began to forget about the dance.

She began to make mistakes, crashing her high heels into Martin's foot, earning a muffled grunt from him. A grunt too muffled for the crowd to hear, but also too quiet to wake Kurumu from her fictitious paradise.

As he peered into her eyes, Martin found that she was not focussing, she wasn't mentally present at all, causing her body to dance on autopilot, which would certainly make them lose the competition.

Unwilling to lose the competition, Martin decide to draw upon his powers, and hope that the seal around his neck would not block the one thing that might salvage their attempt at winning the competition.

From the darkness of his heart, where the monstrous youki was at its strongest, he extracted the power required for his feat. He felt the power creep up his body towards his eyes. He squeezed together his eyelid and forcefully reopened them, revealing red pupils and a menacingly large and vertically elongated irises.

He gazed deep into her eyes, and let his thoughts flow into her body, driving her will out to a dark corner from where she could do nothing but watch as her body moved beyond her control. Quickly he took control of every fibre of her body and carefully he steered her to match his movements.

Martin's chest started aching. As he had feared, the seal was trying to suppress the flow of power by sending the same amount of youki in the opposite direction. More and more of his energy did Martin have to send into his charm, and with each passing second the aching increased in intensity.

Much to Martin's appreciation, the dance soon drew to a close. And he could finally release his control over Kurumu's being, who, at that precise moment, snapped back to reality from her daydreams, unaware of what Martin had just done to her.

As the two of them bowed, the crowd cheered and applauded them, they had set the standard and it was clear to everybody that it was going to be hard to surpass them.

As Ruby continued to announce the next group of dancers, the two quietly made their way down the stairs and back to Tsukune and the others.

"And? How did we do?" Kurumu asked Tsukune.

"It was very good. Better than two of you had shown in class, which already seemed like top notch quality." Tsukune said with a smile. Moka merely nodded and Yukari simply would not grant the succubus the satisfaction of feeling like she had done something right in her life. As for Mizore, she was nowhere to be found.

"That's good to hear." Martin said, holding his hand up to his chest as a mental aid in suppressing the pain that besieged his heart. "If you guys don't mind, I'll be off to the bathroom." he said and left without waiting for an answer.

Hastily he made his way to the entrance. Not knowing the layout of this building proved to be an annoyance, but experience dictated that bathrooms could virtually always be found in the vicinity of the main entrances.

Instantly he found what he was looking for, the universal 'man's toilet' sign and he hurried inside. He found himself alone, something he found to be a relief. He held onto the edge of the sink as he peered into the mirror. His veins were starting to show, swollen by increased blood pressure. He tried to grab the cross, hoping to properly inspect it in the mirror, but instead of being able to grab the artefact like he was used to, a flash of lightning erupted from the cross' red stone and connected with his hand.

Despite his best efforts to pull his finger away from the seal and end the current of destructive energy from soaring through his body, his body seemed paralysed by the Youki, pulsing through the pathways in his body. Slowly his body went numb and Martin dropped to his knees, gasping for air. The numbness continued to expand throughout his body, up his torso, down his arms and eventually into his mind.

Slowly, Martin's consciousness faded into nothing.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kurumu felt that Martin had been gone for an awfully long time. Perhaps he was just lost in the school, he had only been here for a couple of days after all.

The dancing competition was now drawing to a close and the final couple now vacated the stage for Ruby to announce the winners.

Kurumu turned to Tsukune.

"Martin hasn't come back yet. Can you go look for him?" she asked him, trying very hard to convince him without unleashing a charm on him.

"Uhmm, sure?" Tsukune replied, slightly unnerved by Kurumu's cuddling up to him. "Any idea where I should start searching?".

"Yes, he said he was going to the bathroom, but that was almost half an hour ago. she answered.

"I see, I'll check the toilets first though, perhaps he's still there." he said and went of on his quest to find the missing Martin, just as Ruby had taken centre stage.

"Well, I think we can all agree we had some pretty amazing dancers tonight." she said, once again the crowd remained silent. "Anyways, let's move on to the winners of tonight's dancing competition!".

The crowd cheered, not so much in excitement, more so that they could return to dancing to some nifty beats themselves as soon as possible.

"The winners of tonight's dance battle are..." she said as she opened a cheap envelope. "Kurono Kurumu and Martin Ardacul!" Ruby shouted.

The crowd began clapping and cheering, though some were less eager than others and would rather have seen someone else take the stage, themselves most likely.

Kurumu bit her thumbnail, of all times Martin could go missing, it just had to be the one in which they were going to be handed the prize they worked so hard for.

Slowly she made her way towards the stage, trying to stall for Martin's arrival as long as possible.

When she finally reached the stage, Martin had yet to arrive and so she climbed the stage on her own.

"Where's your other half?" Ruby asked teasingly.

"Missing in action..." Kurumu said sarcastically.

Ruby laughed and turned back towards the crowd.

"Looks like we have someone with a bit of stage fright" she joked and turned to the DJ "Crank up the volume DJ!". At her command, heavy bass tunes came from the sound installation in that surrounded the stage and the rest of the hall.

As Ruby started dancing on the stage and the rest of the crowd participated in the act, Kurumu saw someone moving towards the stage.

It was Tsukune and concern was visually imprinted all over his face through his serious expression. As he approached, Kurumu climbed down to meet him, placing her ear to his mouth to understand his words through the insurmountable amount of noise generated by the house music.

"I found Martin, laying unconscious in the rest room" he said.

"Oh god, is he all right?" Kurumu asked as her eyes widened and her hands went up to cover her mouth.

"Yes, Miss Nekonome has taken him to the infirmary" Tsukune explained as he put an arm around Kurumu and guided her towards the exit.

The other girls, who had noticed them leaving, were quick to follow in their footsteps and Ruby, in her blissful unawareness, remained dancing.

At the infirmary they encountered Miss Nekonome, who was just on her way back to the party.

"Nekonome Sensei! Is he all right?" Kurumu asked frantically, on the verge of tears.

"He is in good hands, I'm sure the Doctors will do a great job nursing him back to health" Miss Nekonome replied, trying to comfort Kurumu. Whilst she was unable to keep proper control of her class, she did care about her students and could act like a proper teacher if the situation absolutely called for it.

"I must now ask you to either return to the party or to your dorms. Come back tomorrow and you may see him" she said reassuringly.

"Why can't we see him now?" asked Mizore, calm and out of the blue.

"The doctors want him to be perfectly stable before he gets any visitors." Nekonome explained.

"But..." Kurumu objected.

"No buts, let him rest for the night. You may come back tomorrow".

Disappointed, Kurumu more than the rest, the five left the infirmary and instead of going back to the party they decided to retreat back to the dorms for the night, where they said their goodnights and separately returned to their respective rooms.

All the while, Tsukune couldn't help but notice Kurumu's concern for Martin when he told her of Martin's condition. Previously, such emotions were reserved for him alone. Perhaps she was finally learning to let go?

XXXXXXXXXX

Kurumu had immense difficulty falling asleep that night, Martin appearing in front of her whenever she closed her eyes, covered in blood more often than not.

After several hours, well past midnight, Kurumu finally managed to fall asleep. It wasn't long however until Martin once again invaded her mind, this time as a malicious dream.

She found herself in a featureless, rectangular, white room with no discernible peculiarities, save one. A dark corner in which she could vaguely see the contours of a person crouching down. Slowly she approached the corner, her soft footsteps echoing throughout the chamber. As she got closer to the corner, she started to hear painful moans and sobs. It didn't take her too long after that to realize that it was Martin crouching in front of her.

"Martin? Is that you?" Kurumu asked as she carefully approached him.

"Go away!" Martin shouted, his voice deep and twisted.

"It's me, Kurumu" she explained, trying to calm him down.

The sounds stopped.

"Kurumu?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me. There's nothing to worry about" she replied.

Slowly Martin turned around to reveal his face, a sight that made Kurumu jump and want to scream. She opened her mouth, but no sound escaped her. He was bleeding from every orifice on his head, blood streaming down his cheeks like tears.

"What's happening to me?" Martin asked.

"I don't know." she said as she held out her hand "Come with me, we'll get you to a doctor and you'll be fine. Okay?".

For a moment, Kurumu gazed into Martin's fearful eyes.

Martin too now extended his hand towards Kurumu's though mere inches away he flinched and pulled away, accompanied by the sickening sound of breaking bones.

He screamed in agony as his body became twisted and contorted until his body lost all structure and collapsed into a lifeless, deformed body lying in a puddle of blood.

Kurumu, too shocked to do anything, dropped to her knees, staring mindlessly at the corpse.

In her trance, she failed to notice the thin streams of blood moving towards her like roots of a tree move towards moist and nutritious soil. As the streams got closer, they changed direction around circled around the still dazed Kurumu.

Behind her, the streams merged and reassembled Martin's head.

"Ku... Ru... Mu... Chan..." a low, menacing voice whispered from behind.

Kurumu awoke from her trance, finding herself staring at an empty corner. The body was gone. In the corner of her eyes she saw the final droplets of blood circle around her.

Then she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she turned around, staring right into what appeared to be Martin's face.

There was something different about him. His face seemed slightly more matured, malicious and most disheartening, she was staring into blood-red, predacious eyes.

"Ma... Martin?" Kurumu asked, her voice quavering in fear.

The monster grinned, revealing long, sharp canines. The grin quickly evolved into maniacal laughter.

"Close, but not quite." it said, opening its jaws open wide and digging deep into her neck.

Kurumu woke up, screaming and feeling her neck. She was covered in sweat, her pyjamas were soaked and sticking to her skin. She was panting, even when she realized it had all been a very bad dream.

She glanced at her alarm clock, it was seven o'clock, there was little sense in trying in returning to bed. Instead she chose to take a long, relaxing bath to take her mind of things. This morning, she'd take things slow.

XXXXXXXXXX

As she walked to school, Moka caught up with her.

"That was quite the scream" Moka said. She, being situated in the room right next to Kurumu, had heard it quite vividly.

"So you heard that" Kurumu replied flatly. "I just had a very bad dream. That's all".

"Don't let it get to you" Moka said, trying to encourage her friend.

"I won't, dreams are just dreams. They're not real." Kurumu replied.

But they can certainly come very close.

**A/N: Woop, finally some time to (re)write the things I wanted to finish so long ago. I blame exams.**


End file.
